This is utterly woeful. The first time they let me outside the ward since i went in and they take me to observe some damn high school. The only good thing that came out of this experiment was the decent food that the KO cafeteria provided me. I don’t even know why i agreed to be part of this experiment, other than i had not gotten a taste of the outside world in over thirty years. So when they offered to let me be part of experiment in which they drag me to these places and see how different people react to the deaf, mute, dumb Indian tied up in a chair in the corner (4). By far this school has to be the worst place that they have taken me. The black boys wheeled me into the corner of the campus’ cafeteria and left, only coming back to observe when the kids showed up. However, they did not get to observe kids as individuals, only as mass groups. None of them even paid me a glance, but i got a good look at them.
The first thing i noticed is that a high school is not much different from the ward. Everyone has their own groups located each distinct by one characteristic. You have the athletes flaunting their varsity jackets, the way i did when i was their age, and only talking about their own accomplishments. Then you have the gossiping girls or the overachievers or the forgotten (4A). These forgotten are the people who have been cast off by the combine that controls them like the chronics in the ward. They sit off in their own seclusion saying nothing; however, they are much more then what they appear. While everyone else only notices actions and sayings, I look for the one thing that tells all about a person the eyes. The eyes of the forgotten kids tell their sad story, the unfocused pupils show the person deep in thought, constantly scanning and desperately searching for someone to notice them. The rest of the story is told by their slumped shoulders and sullen face as they come to the conclusion that they are doomed to a life off in the shadows of those who are more accomplished and important. They are consistently kept down by the teachers running this combine. This is most apparent when a teacher calls out a member of the forgotten for not wearing a tie, but ignores an athlete that makes the same mistake. I feel for this one kid and as i am being wheeled out without being noticed manage to make eye contact with them for long enough to know that this high school is nothing more than a ward using the facade of education to keep kids in the combine.
KO, decent food... lol. I like how you make the chief aware of himself in the atmosphere of a highschool. The way in which you allow the Chief to leave the ward is inventive. It still presents that idea that he is still not fit to live in society. The accknowlegement of various groups in comparison to the ward is an interesting idea, and I think you can expand even more on this idea, drawing out his views. You also point out the idea of a combine, where these students are trapped. Even though everyone is a part of the same machine, certain people are treated differently due to their group associations. Overall, I think you accurately described KO as far as the social atmospher goes; however, expand more on the physical atmosphere, so the Chief's crazy perspective can come out even further. Additionally, you could make the Chief's views of everything seem even crazier. It does not have to make sense.
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